A bear-y good birthday

Giant panda cub Bao Bao looking on at the cake it received on Sunday for its second birthday at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington. Bao Bao's second birthday comes a day after its mother, 17-year-old Mei Xiang, gave birth to twins. It was only the third time that a giant panda living in the United States had given birth to twins. Mei Xiang has been caring for the delicate and vulnerable newborns one at a time, and zoo officials said they were doing well.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 26, 2015, with the headline 'A bear-y good birthday'. Print Edition | Subscribe

The Straits Times

We have been experiencing some problems with subscriber log-ins and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Until we resolve the issues, subscribers need not log in to access ST Digital articles. But a log-in is still required for our PDFs.